"Hard-core conceptualism"
In the chapter, Notes on the Gallery Space, O’Doherty uses an ironic title to thoroughly and philosophically explain the reasons for which the museum space has become an entity in correlation with human history. “The wall itself has no intrinsic esthetic; it is simply a necessity for an upright animal.” Here, O’Doherty is obviously speaking of the museum wall when he simply mentions “the wall”, but what I like most about this quote is his strait forward logic behind his statement, which is believable and most likely the actual reason why art is displayed upright. In the Second chapter, The Eye and the Spectator, O’Doherty attempts to explain the reasons for which humans interpret different styles of art and how it all came to be. “…the spectator and the eye are conventions which stabilize our missing sense of ourselves. They acknowledge that our identity itself is fiction and they give us the illusion we are present through a double edged consciousness.” The connection between conceptual art and philosophy is often very relevant when I am a spectator, but often, I get the feeling of being held back by my own parameters of the mind and essentially viewing the art from my own illusions. One artists work from the reading that I really enjoyed was William Anastasi and his, West Wall. I felt it was a very important piece in how it prompted feelings about the space itself and the history and lifetime of that wall in particular. “When the paintings came down, the wall became a kind of ready-made mural and so changed every show in that space thereafter.” That brings up an interesting question involving our responsibility as artists; shouldn’t we strive to leave our mark, like Anastasi, on every museum space we inhabit? -Drew
